Spanish driver Nerea Martí finished third in the second of the weekend's races held in Jeddah. Meanwhile, both Chloe Chambers and Carrie Schreiner finished in the points-paying positions twice
The 2024 F1 Academy season started remarkably positively for Campos Racing and its drivers. Nerea Martí stepped onto the podium in the second of the races held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit while her teammates Chloe Chambers and Carrie Schreiner placed in the points twice over. In the case of the American driver sporting the colors of Haas F1 on her car, she secured a fourth-place finish, narrowly missing out on the podium.
The season officially began on Thursday with the single free practice session, where Martí achieved fourth place on the timesheets with a best lap of 2m05.674s. Her teammates Chambers and Schreiner finished the session in seventh and eighth positions with times of 2m05.966s and 2m06.201s respectively. Subsequently, in the qualifying session, the Campos Racing drivers waited patiently in the pits with the aim of preserving their tires as much as possible to attack in the final part when temperatures were lower. The two best lap times determined the grid for the two races, with Martí securing fourth place in the first and fifth in the second with her best times of 2m04.899s and 2m05.176s respectively. Chambers qualified eighth and sixth with times of 2m05.192s and 2m05.449s, while the Sauber Academy driver, German Schreiner, finished twelfth and eleventh with best times of 2m05.665s and 2m05.685s.
In the first race held on Friday, Martí maintained fourth position at the start with her Tommy Hilfiger Tatuus car. Further back, Chambers was in seventh place while Schreiner was in twelfth. After a couple of laps behind the safety car, Martí held off Lola Lovinfosse on the restart while Chambers gained a position at the expense of Bianca Bustamente. Towards the end, the safety car returned to the track to reduce the race to just a couple of sprint laps. Unfortunately, Lovinfosse hit Martí from behind at turn 1, forcing her out of the race. This allowed Chambers to climb to fourth place as she crossed the finish line. Schreiner managed to finish in tenth position, thus securing points.
On Saturday's race day, the second race was as entertaining or more so than the previous day. Martí gained a position at the start by overtaking Lovinfosse and trailing behind Maya Weug. In those early stages, Chambers was sixth and Schreiner was in tenth place. Precisely, American driver Chambers was involved in a nice duel with Jessica Edgar for fifth position. After a couple of laps behind the safety car, the race returned to green flag conditions, but shortly after, German driver Schreiner was hit by a rival and spun, dropping her to the back of the field. Another safety car period was on track until lap 10 when the pack stretched out again. In the end, after 13 laps, Martí secured third place at the finish line. Schreiner, after the aforementioned incident, climbed up to seventh position while Chambers, after a 5-second penalty, finished tenth.
Following this first meeting, Martí occupies fifth place in the drivers' standings with 15 points, two more than Chambers who is sixth. Schreiner is tenth with 7 points. In the team standings, Campos Racing sits in third place with 35 points.
The second event of the calendar is scheduled in Miami on May 4-5.
